If a picture is worth a thousand words, it's time the people on The Hill and in Austin take a close look.  Y'all are shooting yourselves in the damn foot by not giving a rat's ass about what staff have been saying... what I'VE been and YOU'VE been saying on this site -- and when the time comes to pay for thier inattention I'll have no sympathy for what they've brought upon themselves.

What we all know, already, is that the necessary changes are going to be painful... but more painful than what...

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I'm ALL FOR everyone being unique... or belonging to a certain group that shares common interests, or of social/political cultures etc other than my own.  I was taught that people have more in common than there are differences, and to respect individuals for who they are -- not for the color of their skin, religion, age, sex, etc etc etc.

So for me, dealing with overt -and- covert racism/bigotry is a difficult thing.  I don't respect racists and bigots, who most often are small-minded peopl...

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Last shift was only remarkable in that the same crap went on:

1. JCO 5 left me on the dorm by myself, before relief staff coverage was certain, with 17 kids.  Nothing new there.
2. Fellow JCO was left with holding the other side of the dorm with way over quota of kids.
3. It was a 12 hour shift; another one tomorrow.  I'm burning out to a frazzle this week.
4. Got drafted to work on another dorm for a while, where one kid went apeshit and destroyed the vacuum cleaner, poured bottles of chemicals/cl...

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It can't be easy.

Imagine you're 19 years old, and have spent a few years locked up in TYC.  Say you CAN go back to the family home you came from, if you came from one... everything you owned back in the crib has probably been stolen, pawned, or broken by now.  The adults have gotten on with their lives... other family members may have moved in or out of the house.  You're an interloper or a stranger, at best.  You've changed.  You're a "grown man" now.

Uh-huh.  We've all heard THAT line.

What d...

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How obvious should it be that leaving a single staff -- male OR female -- to hold a dorm for ?? hours -- no matter which shift -- is a BAD IDEA?  Gosh.  It was obvious to ME on my last shift that when I'm working with a 18:1 ratio, well shucks... durn near ANYTHING can happen.  Guess it's STILL OK for a single female to hold the dorm with over 12 kids, 'cause that was the situation.  Guess we just lucked out, huh?  No blood on the floor is always an indication of a good shift around here nowd...

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We have to understand one thing -- this is a serious place we work.

Or it's not.

But I am.
  
THE WAY things are going, all I can do is wish the best for everyone connected with the "recent event" on campus. I know you know what I'm refering to, without even having to say more than that.  IF you're not a 1-4 JCO and spend your R-Daze with your head in the sand,  you may not know what/who I'm referring to.  Allow me to offer help myself and other fellow co-workers find some closure?  Thanks.

You ha...

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Go figure.  On July 5, 2011 I get a no-explanation summons to go to The Hill.  OK.  Get there, and a couple JCO 6's greet me and say it's time to receive my LIVE (oh?) Yearly Evaluation.  Hmmmm.  As usual, ALL ratings are just "meets expectations" --- same as every time, over 6 years now.  OK, fine.  So far.

Then the kicker.  I get read a letter that I think was done TOTALLY  off the books.  And that was carried out in a TOTALLY unethical and most likely illegal manner.  And yes, I did sign it...
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Yes, it's another shift of slogging through the motions of meaningless paperwork, confrontments, firm/fair/consistant personal behavior, day by day.  Who cares, who knows, who bothers?  Well -- a lot of things bother me on the job.

But here's the catch -- the worse it gets around here, the more people we have going out on stress leave.  That REALLY bothers ME, since I don't go that route.  We're ALL stressed, kids and JCO's and everyone else... right?  But when things get un-manageable, like t...
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I've got a bit of a problem with this program:

*  Pool tournements??!  Just what the little hustlers need.  See y'all at Bernie's in a few years, SUCKERS!!  Geeeze.

*  What does a place that offers slip-n-slides, cookouts, movies, snow cones, video games and karaoke contests sound like to YOU?  A cruise?  Boy Scout camp?  A damn RESORT??!  Or a maximum security prison for juvenile felons?  YOU TELL ME!

*  Excuse me, but even though Michael Jackson could dance like nobody else and had some catchy...
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But what if the kids DON'T comply?  What then, especially if it's a group non-compliance?

By the book, it'd be the check in/thinking report/time out/LOP routine for individuals who simply were defiant and refused all checks.  If those interventions don't work, we can (I guess) start referring them.

But say a kid just is cursing, or out of dress code somehow, or is a little touchy-feely with a peer, or isn't into group movement.  He's bust being contrary... having a bad day and is in a non-carin...
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From the excellent http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/ website, July, 2011, regarding the influx of new kids at Giddings --

"If youth are simply moved to remaining facilities, the agency, Legislature and public should expect conditions inside facilities to worsen. Youth lock-ups that house more youth are more likely to have staff-on-youth, youth-on-youth and youth-on-staff violence, like what the state saw prior to the TYC reforms initiated in 2007. Returning to those conditions would undo ...
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Here's some excerpts of what I've been hearing and reading lately... thanks y'all for the input!

"Please advise on who is going to be responsible if one of the students get hurt.  The dorm is out of control and it doesn't help go to check or confront students anymore because they just tell you to go f*** yourself."

"The students who are trying to sleep can't, and are starting to get upset with the others and and I'm afraid they may get into a fight with the non-compliant students."

"... after th...
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Sorry that the best The Hill can come up with to JCO questions at a recent campus wide meeting are various shades of the "I don't know", "It's hard to say",  etc variety... what DO they know?  Obviously, no plans... and clueless as to the real nature of what's been going on at the dorms.  It's out of our control to promote postive change?

I DON'T THINK SO.

DO they have any short or long range plans/ideas/goals??  ANY???  Must be nice to get scheduled time off,  but what do -I- know about THAT? ...
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"The alarming rise in juvenile crime continued. In Texas, from 1990 to 1998, the juvenile proportion of total arrests increased from 23% to 35%. Juvenile violent crime arrests also increased. The 74th Texas Legislature passed the most expansive juvenile reform legislation since 1973. This legislation that took effect in January 1996 has been described as a "get tough, balanced approach" that reflected the public attitude that we want to punish youth in some meaningful way, and yet not abandon...

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I am new to blogging, but I've used computers since '81... so this will take a little while to figure out and get in the groove.  Looks like it works, though, so HERE WE GO!  Your comments and opinions will be appreciated; otherwise I'll just rant on.

Give me a little time.  I need some sleep right now. 
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